It was like Christmas, only bigger.

During the 16-day United Parcel Service strike, the U.S. Postal Service delivered more than 9 billion pieces of mail.

The day the strike hit, the nation's post offices suddenly found more than 1 million pounds of mail in the system. That's more than at Christmas, postal officials report.

August is usually an uneventful month for the Postal Service, said Cape Girardeau Postmaster Michael Keefe. For many, the month is a time for vacations, family reunions, back-to-school activities and enjoying the last full month of summer.

But this August has been an exception, said Keefe.

Because of the UPS strike, the postal operation has been more like the final weeks before Christmas rather than the calm of summer.

The volume of first-class and some other mail was not as high as the Christmas holiday season, but Express Mail increased more than 70 percent and Priority Mail and Parcel Post increased 50 percent.

Those percentages were about the same for the Southeast Missouri area, said Keefe.

In Southeast Missouri area -- more than 160 towns and communities -- the additional mail meant from one to five additional tractor-trailer truckloads of mail a day.

Nationally, the mail service handled from 3 to 3.2 million packages a day during the strike.

"Parcel restrictions, temporary facilities, short supplies and transportation complications certainly didn't make our lives easy," said Richard S. Shaver, lead plant manager in the Kansas City Postal Service district.

"But we delivered," said Omar Rogers Jr., district manager of customer service and sales in Kansas City.

The past 16 days have been challenging for all postal workers, said Shaver.

"But through it all we maintained the integrity of our delivery system," he said. "We lived up to our commitments and provided a service that has been widely applauded by customers across the nation."

Shaver and Rogers said the Postal Service wants to thank its workers everywhere for their cooperation, response and confidence. For that reason the Postal Service is taking time today to recognize the extraordinary efforts of its employees.

"We're providing sandwiches, pizza and soda for workers here," said Keefe, who expects to get an early start today. Keefe arranged for sandwiches and planned to be on hand at the mail processing center at 3:30 this morning.

Sandwiches were also to be available for workers at the Cape Girardeau Post Office, 320 N. Frederick, at 7:30. Food will be available for the workers at various times throughout the day.

An important result of the UPS strike is the realization by many customers that the Postal Service can meet their needs, said Keefe.

Land's End, a company that ships products nationwide, wrote to the Postal Service: "We don't know what we would have done without you. From day one your folks worked tirelessly to make sure that Priority Mail lived up to its name. Our customers tell us their chinos and sweaters and other Land's End clothing arrived with little or no delay.

"Thanks again for pitching in. Now we really appreciate your motto about 'neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night' keeping you from getting deliveries through. Only now we would add, nor a UPS strike."

Another letter from a shipper, Scott Bracale of Bass Pro Shops Inc. in Springfield, Mo., said: "Quite honestly, if the U.S. Postal Service continues to perform as well as they have during this crisis, there is no reason for me to automatically shift back to UPS."